Motion video cameras and electronic still cameras have been utilized for several years in applications involving image data transmission. Electronic image data generated from a video camera, for example, can be transmitted by a conventional broadcast television station and received by any television in the broadcast area tuned to the appropriate channel. It is not possible, however, for the transmitter to select which receivers will obtain the image data, as selection is controlled at the receiver. Image data from electronic still cameras has been transmitted via conventional telephone lines to selected receivers through the use of a computer equipped with a modem. The image data must first be downloaded from the electronic still camera to the computer, which then transmits the image data to a second modem equipped computer via the telephone line where it can be viewed or printed. Unfortunately, the requirement for a telephone line to transmit image data does not allow images to be quickly and easily transmitted from remote field locations to receiver units. While systems have been proposed that utilize radio frequency transmission to transmit image data from an electronic camera to an individual base unit, none of these systems have the capability of selectively transmitting image data to a plurality of receiver units.
In view of the above, it is an object of the invention to provide an electronic camera system that includes a programmable transmission capability for selectively transmitting electronic image data to a plurality of remote receiver units.